Safety-match holder.



N0. '747'-,568. PATENTED DEC. 22, 1903. EA. PARKER.

SAFETY MATCH HOLDER. APPLICATION FILED MAY 4.1903.

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UNITED STATES Patented fiecmbe'r 22, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

SAFETY-MATCH HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 747,568, dated December 22, 1903.

I Application filed May 4, 1903. Serial No. 155,480. (.No models It all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDMUND A. PARKnR,a citizen of the United States, residing at Meriden, county of New Haven, State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Safety- Match Holder, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention has for its object to produce a practical, durable, ornamental, and inexpensive holder for safety matches, so

called, that shall be adapted for general use, in private families, as well as in hotels, restaurants, cigar-stores, &c., which shall be; convenient in use, but which will render the removal of matches from the holder except as used impracticable, owing to the fact that the original box in which the matches were shipped may be destroyed.

By the term safety-matches is meant matches which will not ignite when scratched upon ordinary surfaces, but require for ignition a special friction-surface, which is ordinarily provided on the sides of the sliding covers of the boxes in which they are shipped. Matches of this class are commonly placed for use in their original boxes in what are called match-box holders, the boxes being ordinarily pushed part way out of the covers and thematches being retained in a vertical position. This system of keeping matches for use is open to numerous objections, among which may be mentioned the inconvenience of removing matches from the box, the fact that it is diificult to remove one match without removing others with it, the fact that both boxes and covers are frequently torn in removing matches, so that theydrop out and are wasted, and thefurther fact that as boxes and covers are easily removed from the holder whole boxes of matches are frequently removed and the holders left empty.

My present invention enables me to provide a safety-match holder which holdsthe matches loosely and in a horizontal position, so that they may be easily and conveniently removed singly, which enables the person providing matches to destroy the original box, and which utilizes the original box-cover as a temporary bottom for the match-receptacle, leaving the sides of the cover exposed to provide the required scratcher or igniting surface.

'match holder are a With these ends in view I have devised the novel safety-match holder of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, reference characters being used to indicate the several parts.

The special design of the holder is of course immaterial so far as the principle of the invention is concerned.

Figure l is a perspective illustrating one form of my novel safety-match holder with a safety-match-box cover and matches in place therein as in use; Fig. 2, a transverse section corresponding therewith; and Fig. 3 is a perspective, partly broken away, illustrating an empty holder of different design.

The essential features of my novel safetyreceptacle for loose matches provided with openings in its sidesand a support or supports for a match-box cover, so that the latter will close the openings in the sides and provide a temporary bottom for the receptacle and the sides of the cover will be exposed at the openings in the sides of the holder to provide 'scratchers.

10 denotes the body of the holder; 11, an opening or recess therein to form a receptacle for loose matches; 12, openings in the sides thereof, and 13 supports for a matchbox cover of the ordinary sliding type, which I have indicated by 14. It is of course well understood that box-covers of this type slide over the box-thatis, they comprise top, bottom, and sides and are open at both ends to receive the box. The sides of match-box covers of this type are provided with scratching-surfaces, which I have indicated by 15. The support upon which the cover rests may be'a shoulder extending around the inner side of the receptacle, as in Fig. 3, or may he supports placed at the corners only, as in Fig. 2. I preferably make the bottom of the receptacle open, as at 16, for convenience in lifting or removing the cover, although this is not essential. The openings in the sides of the receptacle do not extend quite as high as the cover when the latter rests upon the support, so that when a cover is in place the sides thereof close the openings in the sides of the holder, and the cover forms a temporary bottom for the receptacle upon which the matches rests, the receptacle of course supporting the cover and holding it stationary, but loosely enough so that it may be readily removed when it is required to refill the receptacle with matches.

In use the cover is removed from a box of safety-matches and placed upon the support, so as to close the openings in the sides of the holder and form a temporary bottom for the receptacle. The matches are then turned from the box into the receptacle, where they rest upon the cover, as clearly shown in Fig. 2,the matches lying horizontally in the holder, just as they originally lay in the box. The box may then be destroyed. When the matches are used up, the cover is removed and thrown away and the cover of another box of matches inserted in its place. In the form illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 the covers may be removed without moving the holder.

These holders may be cast in iron, bronze, or any grade of metal, molded in glass, or formed from earthenware or pottery.

As shown in the drawings, the device as a whole is adapted to be placed upon and moved about on a table, desk, or equivalent article of furniture, so as to be convenient of access to persons sitting about such table or desk; and since the receptacle is provided with openings in opposite sides, so as to expose both of the scratching-surfaces of the match-box cover, it is not necessary to turn the holder around. Furthermore, as illustrated, the receptacle is centrally supported upon a base which has a marginal flange adapted to receive matches deposited therein by a person who has used either side of the box-cover as a scratching-surface.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- Asafety-match holder having a base adapted to rest on a table and comprising a receptacle centrally supported above said base and having a bottom adapted to support a match box cover whereby the top of said cover may form the temporary bottom of the receptacle for loose matches, openings being formed in opposite sides of the receptacle to expose both of the scratching-surfaces of said box-cover, the device as a whole being movable about a table, the base being formed with a marginal flange adapted to receive burned matches, and the top of the loose match-receptacle having all of its sides of equal height whereby matches are equally accessible from any side of the holder.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDMUND A. PARKER.

Witnesses:

I. L. HOLT, J. F. WILLIAMS. 

